Flower and grass sod mats have long been used in commercial industry. Reinforced flower and groundcover sod mats were tested in the 1970's. These sod mats have serious commercial limitations for the commercial grower, landscaper or consumer. Some also have environmental limitations.
Many flower and grass sod mats contain ungerminated seeds. Germination and early seedling growth requires adequate rainfall and good soil temperature. In addition, the type of soil is often problematic. Also, many of these seed sod mats require complex, expensive and specialized equipment which makes producing small custom lots difficult and expensive for small landscape jobs. Also, many of these use moisture sensitive glues or other ingredients which may lead to storage or shipping instabilities or even premature germination.
Flower and sod mats grown on a very open plastic netting for sod reinforcement are difficult to completely cover with thin planting mediums, use significant synthetic material per square meter and often have delayed harvest times due to the open structure. Plastic netting which is less open often damages the seedling roots by girdling them.
Flower sod mats grown on REEMAY.RTM. polyester spunbond fabrics are limited because the polyester is not degradable, synthetic plastic consumption per square acre is often higher than needed, and only a limited range of strengths are suitable for good commercial sod mat production. Very low weight polyester spunbond fabrics are not generally commercially available. Higher polyester spunbond fabric weights and strengths can retard seedling root penetration. For these reasons, the type of planting medium, planting medium weight, and planting depth are limited for best commercial production.
Thus sod mats heretofore known in the art suffer from a number of disadvantages:
(a) Their manufacture requires expensive, complex equipment. Often this equipment by its nature prevents optimum flower or groundcover production for small landscapers and/or customers. PA1 (b) Sod mats containing seeds only prevent economical production of sod mats of many herb, vegetable, flower, and groundcover species which are better propagated by cuttings, plant plugs, seedlings or plant divisions and the like. PA1 (c) Sod mats limited to seeds require controlled environmental conditions such as moisture for best germination. This leads to extra dollar, time and convenience expense for the landscaper or customer (if water is available). PA1 (d) Many sod mats are sensitive to moisture and humidity and may prematurely delaminate, decompose, germinate, or fall victim to fungus, diseases, or insects. PA1 (e) Sod mats often contain more synthetic plastic than necessary for reinforcement of the specific flower sod because of limitations in availability of the reinforcement. PA1 (f) Some sod mat reinforcements can only be used in lower strength ranges for good production of sod mats. This limits the species of plant materials which can be economically grown and the general applicability of the resulting sod mat. PA1 (g) Current known REEMAY.RTM. polyester sod mat reinforcement will not decompose if exposed to sunlight due to heavy traffic or rain fall and the like forcing the contractor and/or customer to cut away the unsightly portions and clean up if this occurs. PA1 (h) Known sod mats do not use second quality reinforcement products for production. PA1 (i) Traditional vegetables, herbs, groundcovers, and bedding plants are sold in pots and flats, which consume valuable natural resources for packaging and further add to the society's refuse problem. PA1 (j) Traditional plant pots and flats are required by the grower in many styles and sizes for herbs, vegetables, flowers and groundcovers at considerable expense to the grower for inventory, storage, handling and disposal costs. PA1 (a) to provide a method of producing sod mats which does not require expensive, complex equipment and which can easily produce small custom lots meeting customers' needs; PA1 (b) to provide a sod mat which can easily use optimum propagation techniques for the herb, vegetable, flower or groundcover species desired; PA1 (c) to provide a sod mat containing viable, healthy seedlings, plant plugs, root divisions, or rooted cuttings with well developed roots for immediate planting; PA1 (d) to provide a sod mat which will not decompose when exposed to high humidities or moisture and thus give excellent storage and shipping characteristics; PA1 (e) to provide a sod mat with the minimum necessary synthetic plastic reinforcement to both conserve natural resources and minimize synthetic plastic addition to our landscapes; PA1 (f) to provide a sod mat reinforcement which contains maximum flexibility in reinforcement strength and hence, maximum utility for many plant species and applications; PA1 (g) to provide a sod mat reinforcement which will decompose if uncovered and exposed to sunlight by some accident; PA1 (h) to provide a sod mat which will efficiently use second quality grade synthetics for reinforcement and hence, reduce the refuse problem; PA1 (i) to provide a flower or groundcover product which dramatically reduces the need for traditional packaging and hence, reduces the refuse problem and reduce production costs; PA1 (j) to provide the grower with a flexible sod mat system of packaging retail sales which reduces his inventory, storage, and handling costs while also reducing the complexity of his inventory needs.